The third Coastal Tribe village of the Cold Frontier is actually located on an island off the coast. Blue Octopus Village is, of course, primarily a fishing village, but they also trade with some of the creatures of the depths, in particular cecaelia and merfolk, with whom they trade pearls and other treasures of the depths in exchange for land food and tools. In fact, the village serves as neutral meeting ground for these ocean-dwelling sapients, and the PCs might stumble across a conference between these beings (the human villagers will likely attempt to keep them away from there and distract them with their own festivities). The village is medium-sized, with about 400 inhabitants.
Returning to the Random Nations Generator, we get Consociational State as the form of government - possibly the Octopus Tribe and the Fish Tribe (as the cecaelia and merfolk would be called) are actually part of the village government, taking seats on the local Council of Elders. Among the organizations, we get the False Face Society again, just like in Ghost Crab Village. I think I will simply establish that there is a skinwalker presence in this town - given the location, weresharks seem the most likely. A further organization is La Cosa Nostra, implying that the locals who trade with the underwater dwellers for pearls will go to lengths to protect their monopoly, including... accidents (worse things happen at sea, you know). Finally, we have a Biker Gang - which means that many of the younger fishers are rather rowdy when it comes to going out in their kayaks, often racing the waves in rather bad weather. Outsiders who can't keep up with their boating skills - or indeed, can't use boats at all - will get little respect.
Moving on to NPCs, first we get Eddie Chapman, a British criminal turned double agent who pretended to work for the Germans in WWII while in reality working for MI5. For Blue Octopus Village, this might mean a villager - let's call him Long Weasel - who pretends to sell out his village and is willing to subvert the pearl monopoly in exchange for goods and favors, but who is really spying on the PCs for the village - and the Hidden Fire Society.
Next up is John Whiteside Parsons, famous rocket scientist/occultist. Now, this is an interesting archetype, especially considering his attempted "Babalon Working". Let's say our Cold Frontier equivalent, White Sky, is a powerful shaman driven by the need to know. He is a member of the Hidden Fire Society, but doesn't really care about their goals - all that matters is the secret knowledge he has gained through their association. Likewise, while he is strictly speaking not a member of the Wendigo Cult, he has contacts with them and has observed some of their rites. He will probably sooner or later summon Wendigo himself, just to see if he can.
Lastly, we get Doctor Dolittle, which easily translates into a shaman (let's call him Little Water) of the druidic variety who cares deeply about animal life and whose hut will be constantly surrounded by numerous animal companions.
As a political issue, we get Human-animal hybrid ban sought at Louisiana session. Extending the definition of "animals" a bit, perhaps there is a "forbidden love" between one of the human villagers and one of the octopus folk - or at least, the human parents and many of the village elders are against it - the one who is the most sympathetic is White Sky, who is willing to brew them a potion which would allow them to have offspring, just to see what happens. The human male, Long Reed, might ask the explorers if they could live at the Trade Outpost, away from their families. If they sound receptive, he will introduce them to his female cecaelia lover, Deep Swimmer.
Note: A list of all Urbis-related posts can be found here.
No comments:
Post a Comment